Tyler Knott Gregson’s (also known as the Typewriter poet) poems first captured widespread attention thanks to the help of Instagram and Tumblr. His words about love have the power to stop people in the midst of their scrolling frenzies and run chills up their spines. The Minaret recently had the chance to talk to Gregson about his philosophy on love, Valentine’s Day and giving out more love, even if you don’t always get the same amount in return.
The Minaret: You write one poem a day for the typewriter series, a photo caption, and a daily haiku on love. Do you wait to find inspiration before you start writing, or does the idea formulate as your writing it? Describe the process.
Tyler Knott Gregson: I actually get questioned about my inspiration and process a lot, and to be honest I always feel ridiculous and silly when I answer. I really do not have a process. At all. Inspiration, it’s always seemed, kind of sneaks up on me and finds me at the most random times. I never know when a line will find it’s (sic) way into my head, I never know why and I find inspiration in the strangest little things, and the most obvious big things too. When it comes to the captions for photos, most of the time I am lying in bed, I get the photo ready, and the caption just kind of comes out. There is not really a thought process ever that leads to it.
M: You gained a large audience through social media. What were your hopes when you posted your first poem?
TKG: I had none. I just wanted my family and few friends who followed my website to see them. When I began the Daily Haiku on Love, for example, I think I only had a few hundred followers, most of whom I knew personally. I do not know how it erupted into what it is now, but I am still surprised, thankful, and fascinated by it.
M:What single piece of criticism has affected you the most? Why?
TKG: I do not really pay attention to criticisms. For me, writing has never been a hobby or a pursuit or an endeavor that I practiced and fought to become better at. For me, writing was a necessity. I have things in my brain that are different from most people, and writing was always this pressure release valve for me, and me alone. I am still baffled at the fact that people like them, hate them, whatever. The simple fact that they are read at all is wonderful I suppose, as they are just the words in me I had to get out so I didn’t go a bit insane.
M: What single piece of feedback from a fan gave you the most pride? Why?
TKG: When it comes to feedback, the most surprising and humbling and important has been the sheer number of people that have written me saying that something I wrote helped to literally save their life. I have gotten more than I can count at this point, people telling me they felt hopeless, alone, empty or forgotten and reading something I wrote helped pull them back from that proverbial edge. I don’t know any words that can express how crazy that is for me to read, and how much it means to me that in some way I was able to help, even without knowing how, or that I did at all.
M: Publishing houses are often reluctant to publish poetry collections. Why do you think this is?
TKG: The old adage is that poetry is a curse word in the publishing world. Unfortunately, the market for it has dropped significantly over the past decades. I hope to help turn that around, however small a part of that turnaround I am. I think times are changing, and poetry has a place once more.
M: What can we expect from the poetry collection? Will it include a mix of daily haikus and typewriter series? Have you decided on a title yet?
TKG:I have! I think for now the title is staying a little bit of a secret on request of Penguin and Perigee, but soon enough info will be out on it. The book will be a mixture I believe, but actually no haiku. It will be typewriter series, a few blackout poems, and what I am most excited about, some photography with captions that I have been doing. I am excited to display all different mediums.
M: How do you see your work evolving over the next five years?
TKG: That is a fantastic question that I have no idea how to answer. I think I just hope it continues to be honest, painfully so, and I hope it grows as I do. I’ve noticed the way my thoughts are jumbling together has kind of changed even over the last year, and it’s interesting to see the way simple sentences are changing. Who knows where it will be soon. What it will be.
M: What shaped your fascination and hope for love?
TKG: I think I have an amazing example of it that I’ve always been able to witness in my wonderful parents. They have been married a long time, and have overcome some of the most challenging circumstances I’ve ever seen. My Dad is in professional baseball and growing up all the way through today, he’s had to be gone a massive amount of every single year. Seeing love that can overcome anything is inspiring, and it taught me what it should be. My fascination for it has always been in the simple fact that I think it is the driving force on the planet. I think more things are done for love than any other thing, and should be. Silly, maybe, but I am sticking to it.
M: Do you think Valentine’s Day is a positive day to express love, or do you feel it has become too commercialized?
TKG: Of course it’s become too commercialized, but as far as I see it, any day that promotes the idea of being more loving towards someone, towards everyone, is a pretty good thing in my book. Could it do with less candy hearts and pressure towards buying gifts? Absolutely, but at least they are gifts being bought for happy reasons.
Gregson’s poems can be found on his Instagram page @tylerknott and on his website http://www.tylerknott.com. His first poetry collection is set to be published in the fall of this year.
Brianna Kwasnik can be reached at brianna.kwasnik@spartans.ut.edu